Painfully Bittersweet
by TheChu
Summary: After a five year long absence, Sakura comes back to Konoha to find what she dreaded the most. Some things have changed, some others didn't. Some people moved on, and in the end she was left alone.
1. Failed attempts

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. (If I did, it would be an awfully dramatic love story)

Hi everyone!

This is a new story I came up with yesterday's dawn after a party I had at home. I couldn't get any sleep after it so this became the result of my restlessness.

I hope you enjoy it, so here you go.

* * *

"Tell me you want me" He whispered huskily in her ear.

"I want you"

"Tell me you need me" He continued while trailing soft kisses along her neck and down to her collarbone.

"I need you"

"Tell me you love me" He begged with his lips in front of her sweet swollen cherry ones.

"I can't"

"Sakura, I love you" He said while leaning his forehead against hers, mismatched eyes searching desperately for the emerald ones.

"You shouldn't" The pink-haired woman said. She was beginning to run out of answers and reasons to deny him. Her own feelings running rampant, all the while trying to keep at bay the barely contained desire that pulsed through her body madly indicating that she wanted to give into their sin and say the exact opposite.

The poor woman couldn't believe her bad luck. It just had to happen to her; the moment love run requited on both sides, the perfect moment in which they couldn't be together. Leave it to her to fall in love with the only man that was unattainable, and to him to love her back when he knew he couldn't, when he knew he shouldn't. If it weren't for her own skin containing her, she felt like she would be all over the place. So many things, so much hurt, so much love. Neither of them was able of speaking anymore, neither trusted themselves to voice their thoughts aloud, afraid of saying the wrong things, or perhaps the right ones.

Not breathing afraid of breaking the confessions of dark kept secrets their eyes were speaking of, neither moved nor blinked as to not end the bond that so strongly held them together. At that point it became a matter of will, the first one to blink will lose. However it didn't really matter after all, because since the beginning both knew they were doomed to lose something anyway.

Right at that moment all he could think about was the wild and irregular beating of his heart; imagining that if Sakura was able to hear it as loudly as he was, then she wouldn't have a problem believing his words. For the second time in his life he said those words, but for the first time in his life he really meant them.

He never noticed that in the time it took him to blink, she was already standing in the door frame of her bedroom with her back to him, a single hand loosely leaning in the wood. That was the only consolation he had while watching her sharing the same physical space as he was, he knew that after tonight they wouldn't be seen together in public nor in private again. The little time she afforded him before telling him to leave was as much as he would get from her ever again. Then if destiny had decided to keep them apart, he was going to commit every inch of her body, every smell, every taste and every sound to memory, so he would treasure her and give her his all at least in his dreams where they could be everything that reality hadn't allowed them to be. He was hesitant of approaching her. She had shown him her back before; while traveling on missions, or simply walking to Ichiraku on the afternoons for an after training meal, he had seen her before. However for the first time he didn't like seeing her like that, he wanted to see her face to know if she was feeling the same things he was. The silver-haired man knew he deserved everything he got, but he wasn't quite sure if he really deserved her indifference.

Sakura had always been the emotional type of person, one could easily tell what she was feeling by just looking at her; he knew that much. Being emotional was not a good trait for a shinobi to have, it was the code they lived by. Sakura knew the code by heart, but still she refused to embrace it; moreover she was never weak because of it. Kakashi never lived by the book either, but he refused other rules that didn't concerned emotions. He had never been fond of them anyway. Is not like he didn't have them, he just choose to ignore them.

Therefore after she made the distance between their bodies larger, Kakashi expected to hear her sobs and silent crying and to smell the salt on tinny drops falling from her eyes; none of those happened though.

"Kakashi, I think is time for you to go home" She said not even looking behind, her voice not even cracking once.

It wasn't a request, it was a command; good luck he was never one to follow orders, so he refused.

"Please..." She said hoping he understood that this was for the better.

He was desperately waiting for her to break down and cry. If she cried it would mean that there was still hope for them both, a chance at happiness that she would accept him and together they would face the consequences of their actions. Against all odds however, there were no tears or anything of the sort. If Sakura wasn't crying it meant that she didn't love him, that she didn't believe him, or that she didn't want to be the cause of the break of someone else's promise. If Konoha's shinobi were taught something, that was to honor their words; and Sakura was too much of an honorable woman in his opinion. She never went back on her words, but then again neither did he. Kakashi realized then that the reason she did that was to keep him from backing down on his promises and bows. It was completely selfless on her part; while trying to stop him from doing stupid things, she had to sacrifice her hopes and ideals once again. All of that because of him. However she never knew that for once he wanted her to be selfish so she could take what she wanted, he wanted her to stop being so damn honorable and break a promise that wasn't even hers to make once and for all. He couldn't force her to chose tough, so he didn't.

She remained still as if absent of her own body. She was waiting for him to leave, and so he did. He walked past her merely brushing his hand with hers, without exchanging a single word. She shuddered at the touch but said nothing whatsoever. He felt it too, like electricity running through his body, he already missed the sensation.

Then, standing in the door that lead him out of her apartment and life, he said his last words. "I'm sorry, Sakura" After the utterance, the man was gone leaving only a trace of smoke where his body had just been standing a second before.

He blinked first so he lost, but so had she. After he left, the 'something' they were expecting to lose felt more like the 'everything' that they were hoping to gain.

* * *

So how did you like it so far?

Please feel free to express anything you wish to. Any ideas, comments, mistakes, etc, just tell me.

I really appreciate you taking your time reading this.

As for my other fic 'Unwillingly Addicted', I want you to know that I'm not really content as to how it resulted, so I'm rewriting it. The plot remains the same, but the words would be rearranged. I will be posting soon in my profile a longer summary detailing the plot on both stories, so you can tell me what you like and what you don't.

Thank u so much for reading.

TheChu.


	2. Coming back

Hi everyone!

Here's the new chapter of my story PAinfully Bittersweet.  
Just so there is no confusion, I want to clarify that this happened before chapter 1.

Well then, nothing left to say.

Here you go, enjoy it.

* * *

After three not so full days of walking, she was finally seeing in the horizon the beginnings of a city. As far away as the woman was she could hardly tell the difference between the trees and the buildings, it was rather unnoticeable from a couple of miles or so away; besides is not like she had an eagle's eyesight or anything of the sort. Oddly enough she was quite pleased in thinking that perhaps she was just really seeing a forest after all; for some reason after a prolonged absence she just wasn't ready to be welcomed back in.

"Are you ok?" A voice asked.

"Hmm, sure. I think I am..." She hadn't even noticed when she halted their advance unconsciously. Memories were the only things revolving in her mind right now. It almost felt like they were trying to elicit from her a long deep buried feeling that she had seem to forgot. Although she had been called to attention before, she completely disregarded the man that was trying to provide a friendly invitation to tell him about her feelings. It wasn't on purpose, she cared too much for the man as to give him a cold shoulder; moreover the situation at hand was more overwhelming than she had expected it to be.

She had made a plan as to how confront the situation once the moment arrived, however she wasn't expecting to be left dumfounded as now. She felt like a fish out of water drowning in oxygen, one that had willingly jumped out of the pond into the land to see what the other side looked like. More interestingly enough she certainly looked like one. With the mouth hanging agape, and lungs unresponsive to the air stimulus, her oxygen deprived brain couldn't tell the instincts in her to respond and solve the problem. Obviously the woman had forgotten to breathe.

Her brain and body didn't solve the problem, however a hard pat in between her shoulder blades brought the much needed air into her lungs; along with a rough cough because of the saliva going down on the wrong pipe that is.

"You know... you were never that much of a good liar, in fact you suck at it. Now that I think about it, not even the kids back home bought any of your bullshit; and they are four." Now she knew he was just stalling, giving her the time to regain her regular breathing, or perhaps her composure; she wasn't sure she wanted to chose the latter though.

"So tell me... what's wrong?"

"Kankuro... I..." She didn't know what to say, at least she didn't think she knew how to.

"Sakura, we understand how you're feeling. We are your friends after all, we care too much for you as to let you go through this alone" The older woman in the group replied, speaking for the first time in a long while.

The tender declarations of friendship were interrupted however by a less sensible statement that left both women glaring in annoyance at the third member of their party.

"If you feel something, just say it woman. Your silence and stand-offish attitude is driving me mad. You know although you are younger than you look, you're still old enough to be considered an adult in any country. So as an adult and kunoichi at that; would you just stop acting like a kid and..." He never got to finish that rant, since a hard punch decided that it was the right time to collide and land a hit not so gently to the back of his skull.

"Oi, that was uncalled for..." Kankuro whined to his elder sister.

"You stupid little brainless and heartless asshole... you have exactly three seconds to take that back, and start acting your own age and gain something that real life people appreciate; something commonly known as subtlety should do just fine." A lesser man would have peed his pants after those words, and scary body language; the killing hands were just a given.

"Temari... Don't start telling me what to do... I'm right and you know it." The man stood from where he had fallen down after the hit.

"One..." Lifting a long index finger the woman started counting.

"I know what you're doing... you just want to pick up a fight. You're bored, that's it!." He retorted while ever so slightly backing away just a little out of arms' reach; or in his case what he liked to called 'the danger zone'.

"Two..." The middle finger followed the index one. It was just for emphasis after all; and to scare the poor man shitless just for fun on her behalf.

"Look she was just standing there not even breathing. You did nothing by the way; you should be thanking me not scolding me for something you weren't able to do..." He spoke so fast that neither woman understood half of his words.

Kankuro knew he had run out of time, but he had to stand up for his trademark annoying little brother attitude. Besides so much estrogen was driving him mad, he could swear that he already felt the symptoms of a psychological PMS coming his way. He was sure that the damn hormones had somehow infected his bloodstream, and right now they were slowly and painfully killing the few left resemblance of testosterone hormones inhabiting his body.

"And... thre..." She never got to finish counting.

"Okay, okay. I'll take it back. Just know that I do this for Sakura, and not because of you." She had won once again, but that was bound to happen sooner or latter wherever an emotionally crazy woman was involved.

"Sakura, I'm sorry... please forgive me. You know I'm not good with words, and I always lack that sensitivity gen, or whatever you call it. The message remains the same however, I'm just sorry that my mouth is faster than my brain sometimes..."

Suspiciously something behind him sounded an awful lot like _'more like always' _kind of thing.

Clearing his throat he continued. "As I was saying... As insensible as I can be sometimes, you know that when it comes to you I always mean the best. I don't like to see you like this, not even over the most tribal things..."

'_Big words for such a small brain' _Sounded behind him once again.

"You're too much of a good woman, and you deserve happiness. You're too important to me..." 'Hmph, hmph' words went completely ignored by the puppet master.

"Ahem, ahem" She tried more forcefully and less subtlety.

"Okay, she too... I mean us, you're too important to us. Content now?" He stuck out his tongue to the woman behind his back. She did the same.

"As I was saying Sakura. We don't want you to get back in there with matters unresolved, in fact we're not moving a single step further until you are back to being our cheerful and splendid Cherry Blossom, okay? Do we have an agreement then?"

"We certainly do!!! And Kankuro... thank you, this means a lot to me."

"Yeah Kankuro..."

" What?!!" He turned around a little too late as a hard punch landed square on his stomach right then.

"Hey, what was that for?" He furiously stood up, making sure there wasn't anything broken inside. So far so good.

"Your time was up before you apologized, and besides you were starting to sound like a woman with PMS symptoms... and that was scaring the shit out of me to be quite franc"

Damn, he knew now for certain that the stupid hormones had already taken possession of his all too proudly male body. Shit. If any of the guys found out, he would never hear the end of it; and Temari wasn't precisely a quiet, reserved and shy woman. Fuck. He just couldn't stop cursing, he was in need of some serious male training ASAP.

* * *

"So what about it? What is it that got you so worried? I'm not sure I understand" Kankuro said, while posing his best thoughtful face.

"Well there is something that doesn't happen everyday, and that is sarcasm ladies and gentlemen. Kankuro not understanding something... Ha... that's hilarious" If there was something Temari loved more than a good fight, it was making fun of his little brother; just Kankuro tough, Gaara never got all work up because of her. Half of the times he just ignored her comments, while the other half he made an outsmarting replies that left her speechless and upset. He was just too smart to understand humor, and too clever to be made fun of; and that wasn't funny at all.

"Temari unlike you selfish persona, I'm here trying to help Sakura to solve her unresolved matters".

"Nah, leave the woman alone. If she has personal unfinished business, is her own problem. We can't help her with those, you heard her. The ghost of her past are hers to confront. All we can do is sit back and listen." That was her wisest contribution so far in Kankuro's opinion.

"Temari is right Kankuro. I'm just not ready to go back. I feel like things can go two ways as I see, and I don't know which of those I hate the most. Behind the first door what I see is a Konoha exactly the same as the day I left." She said with some sense of sorrow.

"And how can that be bad?" Kankuro asked as softly as he could.

"If I came back to Konoha after so long to find things the same, then I'll feel disappointed. I'll feel like nothing has changed, like I hadn't changed. I would go back into feeling helpless and useless. I would feel people treating me like if I was still a love-struck twelve year old girl, who doesn't take things seriously. And definitely I refuse to go back to those times. I can't accept that. All I got from those years was regret knowing that I couldn't accomplish a single goal. I was ignored by Kakashi, refused by Sasuke, and over powered by all of them. What I would regret the most though is failing Naruto. I think I won't be able to live like that again, not able to fulfill my promises like he did."

"Sakura you're too harsh on yourself. None of those things were your fault. If Kakashi ignored you, is because he is male and an idiot. If Sasuke refused you, then is because he is secretly gay and doesn't want people knowing. And regarding Naruto... well there is no way he can be disappointed at you no matter what. He loves you too much Sakura. It is time for you to learn to stop blaming yourself over destiny's doings, is not in your hands to do so". Temari tried to console the woman by eliciting a laugh or two from her. Leaning a hand on her shoulder then a forearm, then more, until she was hugging her with both arms.

"So what is behind door number two then?" Kankuro asked

"Well If I came back to Konoha after so long and found that everything has changed, then I wouldn't feel at home. People will look at me like foreigner. I would have to be re-acquaintanced with everybody. I don't know, will they remember me?, will they accept me?. If there is nothing for me to be remembered by, I would feel like starting all over again; and you know how difficult it was for me the first time, you were there. Besides I don't know if I'm ready to see that everybody has moved on."

"We were there, and will be there again for as long as you need us. And for 'everybody moving on' do you mean him? Is that what has you all worked-up like this? You know he's a dumb-ass, and I thought you said you have already forgotten him." Kankuro said while hugging the pink-haired woman on the other side, resting his head on her shoulder and his arms on her waist; just like Temari did.

"I did, I swear. Is just that I can't help feeling like this. If he moved on with someone else, then it would mean that I'm not good enough, that I've never been" She said with a bit of bitterness rolling out of her tongue.

"That's why we insist on calling him 'Asshole'. Is not that you're not good enough, he's the one that isn't good enough for you Sakura." Temari consoled her.

"Thank you so much guys. It will be really hard not having you around anymore. Let's just leave it like that. I'll be fine, I swear. Let's spend the rest of the night like this, not thinking that tomorrow I will be an official Konoha citizen once again."

"Okay then. That calls for a party, I'm more than sure that Kankuro has some sake hidden somewhere in his in... well somewhere". The blond-haired kunoichi said addressing the man sitting across from her.

"How can I forget to bring some, this is you we're talking about. Well anyway, here let's have party." He said while tossing the women a full bottle of sake each.

"For Sakura..." They chorused

"For Sakura..." Sakura herself agreed.

Three long time friends then spend the night drinking to their hearts content. Waiting for the dawn to arise, they fell asleep around the fire embers; happier than they had been in the past three days.

Morning came faster than she would have liked. Looking at the backside of the road they just came through, she turned around to see Konoha in the distance up ahead. The landscape which now looked more like a city than a forest; they were close.

"Okay guys, this is it. I'm ready"

Without further ado, the three friends begun their pilgrimage towards the city that held so much emotion for the one pink-haired woman of their party.

* * *

Sakura had been gone from Konoha for five long years. It was good to be home, even though her head was now supporting a major hangover. Something felt amiss however. She didn't pay much attention to it anyway for she hadn't had the time. Since the moment she step a foot in between the giant doors, she had been tackled down to the floor by her two favorite comrades when she used to be under Tsunade's tutelage. Her partners in crime, good old buddies, half brothers, and beloved friends; those were Izumo and Kotetsu.

* * *

Another finished chapter. It took me quite a while to finished, but I think is worth it.

Please feel free to express anything you like or dislike about the story. Reviews, comments, ideas, everything you say is really appreciated

Thank u very much for reading.

TheChu


	3. Prodigal child

Hi everybody...

Before we go into the story I would like to apologize for the delays in posting. I really am sorry, but I didn't have the time to do so since I've been loaded with exams the whole week. They will end next Friday, however I don't have anything for the rest of the week; so here you go.

I hope you enjoy it.

"Izumo, Kotetsu" Besides the two gatekeepers' names, Sakura found she couldn't say anything else.

She had been tackled down by the two men while in the back Temari was holding in the urge to laugh at their expense; she conformed herself with a rather quite chuckle though. Her male counterpart however seemed to be more affected by such a display of shinobi behaviour, or lack there of. The not so subtle frown present in his lips, and the throat deep growl were a dead give away. They were supposed to shake hands or something at the most, in more vertical forms of greetings instead of the horizontal one he was currently witnessing. A tangle of limbs that were usually more associated with bedroom activities, that's what they looked like in Kankuro's opinion.

"Sakura, you're to be taken to the Hokage's office upon arrival. You're to remain silent; anything you say may be used against you in front of the court. We do not wish to use brute force, therefore we will kindly ask you to allow us to escort you to the Hokage Tower." Izumo said as if practiced, his voice calmed and impassive giving nothing away.

Sakura just remained there completely still and speechless. She couldn't think of a single reason as to why things have gone awry. She thought they were greeting her; not trying to restrain her, she was just too confused to understand anything. Everybody in Konoha knew since five years ago that she would be gone for a long time.

Generally when long term missions were assigned, shinobi were required to report to the Hokage herself within a certain frequency according to the extended period of time in leave. This was a method of control imposed in order to be able to determine the status and whereabouts of each shinobi to keep a record. According to the rank and type of mission given this controls could be more mandatory or more flexible. An S-ranked ANBU in the position of hunter-nin or spy was more likely to take a leave range from six to twelve months on an average scale. Within this period of time they were expected to report every three months or so at the most. Any longer and they would send a recognition team in order to tell the status of the shinobi. The recognition teams had three different possible outcomes. If they found the shinobi in the lines, but knowing he or she was failing to report, they would give an extra month to deadline. If still the shinobi failed to report, he or she would immediately be declared a missing-nin, leaving them to their own luck, to be prosecuted upon arrival; if they arrived that is. The second outcome involved the KIA acronym, which once confirmed would lead to the shinobi's funeral and later further research. The last outcome involved the MIA acronym, which was the most uncertain of them all, and feared one of the options. After a two year long missing-in-action status, the shinobi would be declared dead. However it didn't exactly meant anything.

The other type of long term missions involved what Sakura had been engaged in for the last five years. Her mission was of the type for diplomacy, research and development; which were always expected to last from one year and up. However reports deliveries were more flexible; shinobi were to report every four month to six at the most and some times required to make yearly visits. Sakura being a kunoichi of jounin status, send for the specific purposes of medical research and development programs to an ally country, didn't pose as a threat. Sakura reported every five months punctually, and Tsunade herself granted the pink-haired woman the choice of making or not the required yearly visits. For personal reasons she choose not to visit Konoha, but still she never failed to deliver a report. In fact she wrote rather occasionally to Tsunade and kept in touch frequently with Naruto.

This facts however didn't explain still why they were being a little hostile to her. Didn't they know? Or was there a new policy that she had been failed to be notified on?

After a good two minutes of complete silence, stillness, and tenseness on her behalf, Sakura decided that if she had to be taken, then she might as well stand up. Thus she did so ever so slowly and carefully as to not show any signs of hostility.

Then fully on her feet she faced the two men that initially tackled her to the ground. Temari and Kankuro have obviously decided it was the best to remain calm and to oblige to their commands, however neither men addressed them, not even slightly. In fact neither seemed to noticed they were standing merely three feet away in between the gates.

Sakura didn't dare to make eye contact with either afraid of what she might see or feel. If she had done so however, she wouldn't have miss the slight gaze they sent each other right before bursting in a fit of laughter.

They were now laughing so hard that she felt like a completely idiot not knowing what to make out of the situation. Izumo was already on his knees clutching his abdomen, laughing so hard that was almost too painful to watch. Kotetsu had tears running down the corners of his eyes, laughing without even breathing. Once again Sakura had been left perplexed at the situation, completely not expecting this type of outcome.

Kotetsu was the first to recover among the five shinobi involved in the event.

"Ha. Sakura, you don't know how long we've been waiting to pull that prank out on you... haha... You should've seen your face..." Kotetsu said while still trying to catch his breathe.

"Damn, Izumo. After this long planing the prank, and we forgot to bring a camera. Damn, how stupid can we be?"

Sakura, Temari and Kankuro just stood there watching from one guard to the other with their mouth hanging opened.

Sakura however was the first to recover.

"You certainly are" She said addressing both men. "You know that back then, that prank of yours would have earned you an Izumo and Kotetsu formed hole in the wall. Right now guys all I want is a hug though. You stupid jerks, come here. I've missed you so much".

Both men then launched themselves into Sakura's wide open arms, hugging the petite woman in their three people embrace. After ruffling each man's hair, she kissed each in the cheek; but not without giving both a bump in the head for their efforts though. She released them then.

"After my debriefing and settlement, you will take me to drink tonight on your expenses." She stated commandingly, trying to hide the mirth behind her words.

"But Sakura-chan, do you remember how our pockets finished inside out after you drank the night away the last time?, let me tell it wasn't healthy for us". Izumo cajoled sweetly, trying to convince her not to leave them poor.

"But Izumo-kun, when was the last time you saw me. I'm finally back so I would love to have a welcome-back night out with you. Besides I promise to behave myself, it can't be that bad, please..." She said almost too sweetly to be good, while batting her eyelashes playfully showing big puppy eyes and a little pout to make emphasis on her facade of good girl.

"You know I'm a sucker for those puppy eyes Sakura, so don't even try it. You can't convince me" Izumo said crossing arms across his chess making his point clear.

"Please... Izumo-kun..." She pleaded. Her acting skills have grown immensely while away the brown-haired jounin concluded.

"Okay, we'll do it; but stop doing that. Is annoying and a bit distracting" He said while turning away, a faint unwelcome blush spreading through his cheeks.

"So..." Kotetsu broke the moment. "We have bad news and good news for you. Which do you want first?"

"The usual"

"Okay. Right now most of the teams are away on mission including your former one, except for Naruto that is"

"How is that bad for me then?"

"Well first of all they won't be here for another week or so mostly, so they won't be able to attend to your welcome-home party." He stated matter-of-factly. "Oh, and Naruto is in the hospital right now, so he won't be there as well." He said rather offhandedly.

"What?!" She said fully alarmed, prepared to run at full speed without even hearing the motives behind it. A hand on her shoulder halted her advances.

"He's fine Sakura, don't worry. He's not injured or anything, he's just visiting." Izumo intervened. "Let's just say it's not a bad thing, but as to what exactly it is related to, you'll have to find out on your own. He should be able to tell you that himself." He ended the drama there and Kotetsu continued for him onto the next topic.

"Good news then!"

"Let's hear'em..." Sakura said a little mad at not being told what was going on by two of her best friends; which happened to be the two greater gossips in Konoha after Ino herself, not that it matter though.

"With all of the teams away that means that you have Tsunade-sama all to yourself. No meetings or debriefings are scheduled today, so she might as well receive you herself without going through half of the city just to see her. Shizune has hospital duty today, so that leaves her out of the way too. Nobody will know that you arrived, so that will leave you the time to settle, relax, take a long bath, and then to go out with us. Don't worry we won't tell a soul you are here." He ended his sentence with a little wink.

"You may take the rooftops as to not be seen. And you to can escort her there Temari-san, Kankuro-san. After all the Hokage needs to know that the Suna ambassadors are in town" He said bowing to the Suna siblings.

"We will, and don't worry we know the way" Temari said bowing to the guards respectfully.

"We would take you there ourselves, but we're on duty until late in the afternoon, so we can't really leave our posts" Kotetsu explained.

"Don't worry, we will have plenty of time to catch up later. We'll probably be at the hotel, so you can pick us up there sometime around eight. We'll be waiting for you" The pink-haired woman replied.

"Ha... haha... hahahaha..." Kankuro burst out laughing suddenly.

"What's so funny?" Temari asked completely bemused by his antics.

"Yo, guys. That sure was one hell of a prank... Haha, so funny" Kankuro congratulated in between laughs.

"KANKURO... That was like hours ago... Why and please explain me, why are you laughing now?" The blond-haired bombshell asked too annoyed at his brothers humorous bad timing.

"Hm... I'm not really sure I think..." He replied thoughtfully.

"Idiot" Murmured both women before walking away, leaving Kankuro shaking hands and saying his good-byes rather hastily.

A faint tapping on the window woke the blond-haired sannin up of her desk induced slumber. She lifted her head turning with her rotating chair towards the window, ready to give the person behind her a piece of her mind about proper manners and the door's invention and usefulness. When she saw who the window-tappers were though, she just sucked up all of her words and stood up to open the window for the visitors.

"Temari-san, Kankuro-san, it has been a long time since you last paid a visit. Please come in." She spoke as decently as she could after three full bottles of sake. "As much as I appreciate your visits, I would kindly recommend you to use the doors next time" She asked less content now.

"Hokage-sama we're deeply sorry for interrupting and coming through the window. I can promise you that we won't be repeating this type of behavior." Temari and Kankuro bowed in a sincere apology.

"However know that our actions do not go without a proper reason behind them". Temari spoke as every good ambassador would.

"We have come to deliver important news, and we did not wish for our presence to raise any suspicions without you knowing first hand of the situation we were entrusted with." Kankuro bowed once again to show respect and the seriousness of the matter.

"Please take a sit, and tell me... what business have brought you here" Tsunade signaled the siblings to take the seats across her desk.

"The Kazekage has asked us to bring something back home..." Temari stated simply.

"Or rather someone..." Kankuro added quietly.

After the implications of each of their statements, Tsunade felt a missed beat in her heart's rhythm; afterwards replaced by a quicker paced beating pattern. She drunk too much, she thought. She couldn't be hearing the words rightly the Hokage concluded. There was no way they could be talking about Sakura.

"Forgive me for being distracted, but I believe a misheard you... Could you please repeat that for me"

"You heard them right shishou." Sakura said from the window.

"Kami, please tell me I'm not hallucinating" Tsunade said looking into Sakura's teary eyes with her own glassy ones.

"I'm back home, and you're not hallucinating; though you still might want to consider leaving the liquor for a while" Sakura moved from the window to meet her shishou's embrace half way.

"The more reason to not quit on it. You're back! I can't believe this" Tsunade dropped the piton-like embrace she had on the young woman in order to summon one of her slugs.

"Would you please be so kind as to tell the whole staff that I don't want any of their asses in the whole floor. Tell them not to come by no matter what. I'll be off the rest of the day for everybody."

"Hai Tsunade-sama. I'll make sure of it" The small slug said before disappearing into a cloud of smoke.

"Sakura I see you have grown up." She said turning back to the young woman again. "You look quite the lady now I can see. So tell me, what have you been up to?" The fifth asked eagerly.

"Okay, but you know it is quite a long story..."

"Don't worry, I have the time for you" Tsunade said looking like a mother to her prodigal child who came after long to ask to be forgiven.

And so the rest of the day was spent between teacher and apprentice; between mother and daughter sharing what they couldn't for five long years.

So that's it for this chapter.

I already have the next one, but I will be posting it on Sunday probably.

On the next chapter Sakura finally gets to know what Naruto has been up to.

If you want to know more about the story, you can visit my profile for a more detailed summary on the story's plot.

Any comments you feel like leaving are gladly accepted.

Thank u very much for reading.

TheChu


	4. Missing home

Hi everyone! First of all I would like to apologize for the long delay. I'm really sorry but last week had been hell in between the exams and computer problems I went all crazy with my stuff. Believe it or not I always study in my computer, my notebooks are full of comic strips and randomness and my books are full of dust. As much as I will like to understand Bill Gates' MS Windows fully, I'm afraid I know just as much as the rest of you. Twice in one week 'Painfully Bittersweet' chapter 4 had been deleted of my files just because. And believe me I didn't have the will to do it all over again a third time, I almost quit on the story, but rest assured that I won't. I'm fully back on my feet again. I got myself an old Laptop, with hardly any connection to Internet so as not to procrastinate and to not fill it with viruses and all the bullshit that comes along with it. I got it for the sole purpose of writing, and I can tell you it works as a good motivator. I found this 1999 Laptop in between my dad's stuff, it had Windows 97 when I turned it on, can you believe it? Well anyway way after a little pimping I installed two hard disks of 40 GB each, DVD player, high speed USB ports, and everything else; so now this baby is all mine to do as I please. Hahaha, (laughs evilly).

Well anyways, talking about randomness. Here you go, on with the story.

Thank u so much for waiting!

Hope you enjoy it!

* * *

"Okay people we're moving on. Raidou you and Moegi-chan can take the back door. Udon-kun you go on the left, Konohamaru-kun you take the right side. Genma you're my wing-man" Hatake Kakashi instructed to the team.

"Hai!" With that said, each of the team members jumped onto their designed posts.

It had been a simple B-ranked mission to Tea country. They were supposed to escort the city's Daimyou to an important meeting with the Yakuza clan leader of the neighbor village. The leader was quite the temperamental type of person who didn't spare a single thought into anything. Currently the problem was that their inability to think was causing trouble in the borders. The yakuza were raising wild horses on the borders, which unfortunately for the Tea country, were ruining their plantations like a plague. The Daimyou thought it best to propose a deal that could hopefully leave each party rather content. He knew firsthand how hard it was to deal with the Leader's ape-like attitude and it was no piece of cake. That's why Kakashi's assistance was required, if chaos broke loose with the yakuza, then the Daimyou's life would be protected and the finances secured. In synthesis they were only hired muscle to take out thugs with katanas that they didn't even know how to wield properly.

It was quite the easy mission with a good paycheck. Kakashi could give good use to that money, that's basically why he took up on the offer anyway. Is not precisely like he needed the money, but it was a comfortable method though. It was a short two week mission, risk-free roundtrip; besides he didn't want to be away from home long. For some reason he felt homesick every now and then while away, a foreign feeling settled in his heart. It was completely uncommon of him to feel like that, but then again he had some reasons behind the uncertainty. He was already looking forward to returning, and that was a week away still. He brought Icha Icha tough, hoping it would be enough; luckily it was.

He couldn't help but wonder lately how much his life had changed in the last year and a half; more like in the past five years actually.

Ever since they brought Sasuke back, the dynamics in his team have changed radically, and so had his life. Sasuke came back almost willingly and adapted quite fast to the new dynamics on team Kakashi. They had been eighteen back then. It was almost like in the old days, almost. Tsunade granted back Sasuke his citizenship, his shinobi status though had been taken. He was to spend the following two years under regular surveillance, counsel meetings, and psychological evaluations. However his request to practice with Team Kakashi had been approved. The new six member team would normally be seen training each early morning, after a couple of hours though Sakura and Sakuse would retreat to go to work. Sakura had hospital duties each day, sometimes she could be there from eight to four in the afternoon, and sometimes from dusk to dawn literally. Since Sasuke wasn't allowed to enroll into any type of missions he was forced to find a suitable job that could cover his basic necessities. He was hired by the Inuzuka clan to help Kiba's mother and sister in the dog's compound. He would clean, feed, and take the dogs out for exercise. Every now and then the family would teach him about the dog's training as a sign of confidence towards the reformed avenger. Life was quite good, but not that good.

Somewhere, sometime after the Uchiha's comeback something happened; something he didn't notice. The normally cheerful female member of their team began to feel like a boiling pot, at least that's what she said after a particularly nasty fight with the emotionless Sai. They had argued, at least she had, about something he hadn't had a chance at listening; it ended quickly right after there was one less tree standing in the forest because of a Sai induced punch. She left then. Kakashi thought it wouldn't do any good to have a pissed of emotionally unstable kunoichi right before a mission, so he sought her out to straighten the unresolved matters; he didn't think it would be healthy for her or Sai for that matter. He found her a few minutes latter in front the door of her apartment banging her head and murmuring to herself in something akin to remorse, or maybe insanity, he wasn't sure.

He approached the woman cautiously in order to avoid a misdirected anger on her behalf, after all he could clearly see that she still had a lot of steam to let loose. After a humble 'Yo' when the woman stopped banging her head on the door, he leant on the doorframe by her side. He could clearly see the inner struggle the woman was going through to keep her anger in check. After another minute or so, the pink-haired kunoichi finally turned his way to acknowledge his presence; and with a quiet 'Hi there' as well, she implicitly told him that she was fine now. However Kakashi ever the skeptical thinker, saw in her eyes the untruthfulness behind her words. He was about to question her, until reality came back.

"Kakashi my friend, you've standin' there for the past five minutes without even blinkin'. Man, what's wrong?" The always perceptible Genma self proclaimed Konoha's number one ladies man and his best friend, shook him out of his reverie.

"Oh" It was his clever comeback. "Sorry, I was just thinking"

"That's obvious you know. Really tell me, something's been eating at you lately. You aren't normally this distracted. Problems at home, is that it?" Genma inquired suggestively.

"Genma, later. Now focus on the mission." The Copy-nin cut him off shortly, but effectively.

"Says the guy who has been standing like a statue in the same place for the past five minutes. I swear any more and we would be having a new Kakashi-like home for pigeons." Genma couldn't resist mocking his always stoic friend. It was like a game to him, to try and see if he could get a rise out of the Sharingan user. His attempts have proven to be futile so far, he had never gotten anything more of the man that the same you would get if you pick a rock with a stick for two hours straight; nothing. A good shinobi was not a quitter though, as Gai would so eloquently proclaim; so he never stopped doing it, it was fun anyway.

"Genma" That was it, he was all about business now and that meant being prepared for action.

Chaos broke loose then, well not so much as chaos but at least some resemblance of it. Evidently and regretfully for Kakashi, Katsuo the Yakuza's leader apparently took the Damiyou's intent the wrong way. Kakashi ever the efficiently elite ninja he was known to be, despite his constant tendency of being late to everything, was by the Daimyou's side not two seconds after. Genma came in behind him taking thugs right and left on his way. Raidou came in by the back door securing a safe exit for their employer. Udon was outside scaring the yakuza's horses away so there wouldn't be a chance on them following later. Moegi was outside as well, preparing the horses for their escape. It wasn't a cowardly act, she told herself. As much as she would love to fight them and take the much needed practice, their customer's safety came first and foremost; besides there were way too many thugs to reinsure anybody's safety. Then out of the blue the unforeseen happened.

Heavy amounts of smoke filled the large room quickly, accompanied by the unmistakable sounds of firecrackers, bells and snappers, and there in the middle of the commotion there he was. With a performance particularly attributed to Konoha's number one loudmouth knucklehead blond ninja, that wasn't Ino, Konohamaru made his big entrance. Then with a pose that would put Gai to shame and green out of envy (as if he wasn't already green all over), he finished his 'dynamic entry' with a phrase that could reduce Lee to tears in three seconds flat.

"Fear for your lives, you lame excuses of samurai wannabes. Sarutobi Konohamaru is here to kick your sorry asses into the next world. Remember the name, for I'll be the one to take you there myself" With a wink and a large grin, that frankly went unnoticed because of the smoke, he finished his big entrance.

Half of the people in the room dropped to the floor right then with a common 'plop' to emphasize the reaction. Unfortunately that included one Shiranui Genma who was currently sporting a major sweat drop beside his right eyebrow.

"Naruto must be so proud of you right now" He said, but by no means was it intended to be a compliment, it was far from it actually.

"I know he replied cheerfully" Apparently not only his loudness and obnoxiousness were passed by Naruto, but also some of his blondeness as well.

Somewhere in Konoha, one Uzumaki Naruto was suffering from a left ear major overheating, and he didn't know why.

Kakashi however took advantage of the distraction and escorted their customer outside and onto the horses. He, Moegi, and Raidou left with the Daimyou to safer territories, while the rest of team with Genma leading, were chasing after the fugitive Katsuo who had took advantage of Konohamaru's ninja ways as well.

As much as the Copy-nin wanted to engage and dispose of the Yakuza's leader so as to go home earlier, his client was more opposed to such methods; he strongly avoided all types of violence if it could be helped. Kakashi had however frankly suggested that in his position it would always be more frequent than not, and in order to preserve his life then he would have to agree to their terms. After doing some reconnaissance the team had informed their client that Katsuo was regardless of the outcome of their meeting after his head, and so the Daimyou gave them full permission to do whatever was necessary to end the problems. So now the simple escort and protect had become a search and destroy, at least the paycheck was good enough.

"What about Genma-san, Konohamaru-kun and Udon-kun?" A sweet voice came from behind.

"Don't worry Moegi-chan, they'll be following us soon enough. Genma's leading so they'll be safe" Kakashi insured the only female member of their team. After all they were not to engage, just to follow and find his hideout. As much as a good tracker as the Senbon master was soon enough he lost the trail, and there was an unsettling feeling to it. He wasn't sure why, but somehow in his opinion Katsuo wasn't the simple man they thought him to be, there was more to him than they knew apparently. Anyway they all returned to their stations out for much needed planning. The unsettling feeling had become a persistent nudge in the ribs now because Genma had finally confirmed what Kakashi had thought from the very beginning. The so called Katsuo man, leader of the Yakuza gang was indeed a ninja, however they could only know so much about him. They knew nothing about his rank, status, origins, techniques, fighting styles or methods. They would have to appeal to research and observation once more, this accompanied with a letter to Tsunade asking for information and permission for any type of procedures. Then they would have to follow and engage if needed, trying not to kill the subject, so as to be taken to Konoha for further interrogation. If he wasn't a missing-nin this could bring Konoha a lot of problems with the other nations. Taking hostages and engaging ninjas of other nations for no apparent reason was heavily frowned upon. With some luck Kakashi and his team would be back home before a month was up.

And so the silver-haired man decided to split the team in two once again. Genma, Konohamaru and Moegi stayed by the Daimyou's side to insure his safety, while Kakashi, Raidou and Undon went after Katsuo to find his current whereabouts. It is not like the ex-ANBU team leader didn't trust Genma's tracking abilities, is just that he believed himself to be more efficient and right now efficiency had become his ultimate priority. Besides Kakashi wanted to make sure to cut all of the Yakuza bonds he might still hold over those men who ran away, he didn't want to give him a chance to regroup to come back and do big scale damage on the city. And then was the fact that they had to find him as soon as possible so he wouldn't have the chance to run too far away where they weren't allowed to follow; they were in foreign territory after all.

After several hours of running nonstop, they found the place where Genma lost the trails, so Kakashi summoned his dogs and asked them to follow and tell him on the paths the man went through.

"Kakashi, we're having some troubles finding his particular scent. Something doesn't smell good in my nose; I can tell there's more about this man than simplicity. Even if he were a ninja we didn't find any particular signatures of chakra either. I guess it will take us the night, so you might as well prepare camp and wait until tomorrow early morning and we'll be back." Pakkun said, speaking even better than some particular blonds and blond's followers Kakashi knew of.

"Okay, we'll see each other in the morning then my friend. Take care and please tell Bull not to eat anything he finds in the ground that has more than a week dead or is more solid than his teeth." Kakashi reminded the rest of the dogs' leader.

"And the rest of us…" He said addressing the other two members of his team. "We'll start preparing a campsite for the night."

All said and done they we to sleep taking turns to cover the night shift guard.

* * *

Seven full hours and eight bottles of sake later, Sakura finally got her way out of Tsunades office. Don't get her wrong, she loved the woman maybe even more than her own mother, but after the third bottle she had become just too much to take on. And so finally out of her clutches, she decided it was time to visit the person number two in her list, after all the pink-haired woman was more than desperate to know about Naruto's goings. If he wasn't injured, what was he doing in the hospital anyway?

She went straight through the doors hoping against hope not to be recognized by any of the staff members. There was a new receptionist she could tell since she didn't know the brunette sitting in her old assistant's desk.

"Miss, could you please tell me where can I find Uzumaki Naruto?" She asked politely.

"And who may you be Miss? Don't get me wrong is just hospital protocol, only family members are allowed in the waiting rooms" The woman replied politely as well.

"If that's the case, then I would be his sister" The brunette searched her all over to find any resemblance with the blond man, fruitlessly finding none. "We're brothers of different parents" Sakura explained with just the right touch of humor to her statement.

"Oh. Okay, you may go in Miss. He's in the room 208 in the intense therapy wing. You seem to be a nice person after all, I can only hope you're a really close friend of him otherwise Shizune-san will be mad at me for letting a stranger in. They told that the last time something similar happened the second right hand of Tsunade-sama went all crazy on the staff members for letting people visit 'her men'. I heard the great Copy-nin, Uzumaki Naruto and the last Uchiha came after a mission half dead and she brought them back to earth. I think her name was Sakura…. Sakura… Oh shoot, I can't remember her last name…"

"Haruno. Haruno Sakura" Sakura said introducing herself, but apparently it went unnoticed on the receptionist.

"Yep. That's the one. I've heard other nurses talking about her endlessly, but personally I haven't met the woman yet. I heard she's away somewhere in Suna working with the Kazekage himself. I guess she must be someone important after all." The brunette said thoughtfully.

"I guess…" Sakura replied. "May I go in now?" She asked.

"Oh, yes. I'm sorry for delaying you. Do please go in. The second hallway to the right, take the first elevator and onto the third floor" The nameless receptionist indicated.

"I think I'll find the place. Thank you very much" Sakura then left with a smile on her face, thinking on what people talked about her, it was nice to know that she was quite the renown caretaker. At least she was remembered by the hospital staff, and that was a good feeling.

Approaching slowly and noiselessly to the orange clad ninja sleeping half drooling all over his chest in front of the candies machine, Sakura stood right at his side looking at the face of a friend she hadn't seen in five long years. She almost cried right then, but choose to laugh heartedly instead.

"Naruto, you baka. Only you can make me laugh when I want to cry so badly, you idiot. WAKE UP!" She screamed the last part in his strangely boiling red left ear.

"Ahhhh!!! Oi, you bastard come here I'll break your eardrums as well…" He said while looking aimlessly since he still couldn't very well open his eyes. "You…" He said pointing in the general direction Sakura was currently occupying. Rubbing his eyes more emphatically now, he tried to call on what his eyes saw, but what his mind couldn't process. "I must be dreaming still, I guess. My Sakura-chan doesn't have brown hair…"

"I guess I do now Naruto, you baka. Is just hair dye and I'm not your Sakura-chan. You damn well know I'm noboahhh…" She didn't get to finish that sentence for lack of air and constricting pressure on her thorax. Damn not even a boa couldn't kill its prey this fast.

"Narutoh… Airh… I… need… to… breathe…" Sakura said in between huffs of air that left her body as she pronounced each word more difficultly than the last one, because with each word the pressure increased.

"Sakura-chan! Sakura-chan! I can't believe you're back" Naruto said with tears flowing freely now down on his face.

"Please don't cry, because then you'll make me cry too. And do keep your voice down; you know there are people here trying to get some much needed sleep…" Sakura admonished his loud friend.

"I can't believe my eyes. Only Kami knows how much I've missed you… Sakura… How have you been?" He asked trying to quell his tears.

"I've been just fine, but we can talk about that later, we have time. Now tell me, because ever since I arrived I've been dying to know why the heck you're in this hospital uninjured, and believe me nobody would tell me a thing" Sakura inquired much like Ino would for the latest gossip in town.

"Ah, haha… well you see…" The blond started fidgeting looking around at anything but her, rubbing the back of his head embarrassedly, and now sporting a major full face flush that could only rival Hinata's. "Emm… Remember the last few letters we send each other…" Sakura nodded. "Remember I told you about Hinata and I dating and all that stuff…" Sakura nodded again. "Remember when I told how serious and committed our relationship was turning into…" Again she nodded. "Do you remember what my last letter said, about me proposing…" Sakura lost it then.

"Naruto of course I remember all of that. That was like five months ago, however I still fail to understand how any of this is related to you being on the hospital" Sakura enlightened the blond.

"Well… Umm… I guess so… Well anyways… the thing is Sakura-chan… do you know how take care of kids? Because I don't, and believe me, I need to learn how to and fast!"

"Sakura… Sakura… Please wake up! I need your help…" For the first time ever one Haruno Sakura fainted.

A while after, already seated in a chair Sakura was left completely awestruck. The news was meant to shock anyone out of their skins.

"Naruto are you trying to tell me I'm going to be an aunt?" Now Naruto was the one nodding fervently. "Aunt as in 'Auntie Sakuraaaa'?" Again he nodded. "Aunt as in 'I get to spoil my niece or nephew rotten'?" He nodded for the third time. "Aunt as in 'I'll save you from your parents whenever you misbehave'?" Naruto cut her off then.

"Sakura I fail to see how any of this is helping me being a better father" He said imitating her previous words.

His words tough didn't produced the desired effect, as if struck by a light Sakura looked pale as a paper sheet with worry written all over her face.

"How can I be so dumb? Look underneath the underneath. Shit! This isn't about you being a father, this is about Hinata-chan. Naruto what happened to her? Why is she here in the intensive care wing?" Sakura said so fast that Naruto didn't have the time to answer any of the questions; besides she was already moving to the door room 208 were Hinata was.

Upon entering tough Sakura saw something she never saw before. There in between the white sheets lay one Uzumaki Hinata, breathing slowly unaware anything outside her dreams. Her long purplish hair fell delicately framing her peaceful face and falling on her shoulders. Her hands were lightly resting upon the cutest swollen belly she had ever seen. She was just breathtaking.

"She always does that to me, you know. As if I didn't loved her enough already; when she told men the news I thought I died and gone to heaven. And now that you're back I have everything a man could ever wish for. I finally have the family I've always wanted, I still can't believe it. And if this is just a dream then I don't want to ever wake up" Naruto said never taking his eyes off the woman who was the mother of their unborn child.

"Naruto…" Two different women spoke at the same time.

"Hinata…" Naruto exclaimed with nothing love laced in his words. "Hinata look who came back to finally be an aunt…" He said approaching the bed while pointing to the woman who was currently trying to flee, feeling like she didn't belong in the picture Sakura almost made it to the door when her sweet little voice reached her.

"Sakura-san is that you? Oh Kami. You don't know how much we've been waiting for you to come back. No wonder Naruto is about to burst over in happiness, is just like when I told him he was going to be a father" She finished with a big yawn. Obviously the pregnant woman was tired and she was more than interrupting.

"I'm really sorry for interrupting. I can come back later to visit, you probably need to rest" Sakura said again trying to flee out the door.

"Oh, no Sakura-san. Don't worry is no trouble at all. I've been sleeping for the past ten hours and I'm more than tired of this bed." Apparently she wasn't that shy anymore, probably because of Naruto's influence; but she was as polite as always tough. She attempted to get off the bed when Naruto's hand pushed her back to it.

"You're going nowhere miss. The doctor explicitly told you to rest as much as you can. Remember?" Naruto exclaimed with intent of authority.

"But Naruto-kun, I can't rest anymore than I already have. If I rest anymore it'll be considered an induced coma already" Apparently her sense of humor had been developed as well.

"Then let's ask for a second opinion. Now that Sakura-chan is back maybe we can get Tsunade obaa-chan to designate her as your personal medic."

"I would be more than glad to do so Hinata-chan, if you want me to of course" Sakura offered eagerly.

"I would like nobody else to deliver our baby, that is if you want to Sakura-san" The pearly eyed heiress spoke truthfully.

"It would be an honor Hinata. And please call me Sakura, you don't need to be so formal with me, we've known each other for so long." Sakura said joyfully at the prospect of being the first one to see Naruto and Hinata's baby.

But as any other woman would Sakura switched personalities as fast as Naruto could perform a Sexy-no jutsu. Picking up the chart at the end of bed she turned into medic mode, reading, analyzing and concluding on the woman's diagnosis.

"You've got to be kidding me Naruto. You've brought her here because of a common flu. You big knucklehead! As your medic I order you to immediately take her home, and feed her…" Naruto's face lightened up. "anything but ramen. A good tasteful and complete hot chicken soup should do just fine, lots of water and orange juice as well. You baka!" She said while smiling from ear to ear at her friend's normal display of idiotness.

Definitely some things remained the same, and some changed for the best. So far it was good to be back.

* * *

This is my longest chapter so far. I really hope you're enjoying this as much as I do.

For the next chapter I promise there would finally be some Kakasaku interaction again. More plot would be developed, and I can promise you that I'll leave you completely shocked with the development of the story.

Okay then, I'll leave you with the intrigue and see you next week for another update.

Please feel free to drop any comments you may want to share as far as the story goes. They're greatly appreciated.

Oh, and if you go to my profile there you can see my latest update on future projects that I'll be posting soon enough. Please tell me what you think.

Thank u very much for reading.

TheChu


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